Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-HammelAnthony McCorkle, left, faces a maximum fine of $2,000 from the Sanitation Department for allegedly collecting plastic bottles set out for recycling and placing them in an auto. His brother, Michael, whose car Anthony was using, faces a similar fine and had his car impounded.

Paying the city Department of Sanitation $2,000 for putting a bag of
plastic bottles into his brother's car would likely amount to chump
change if he were running a lucrative recycling business.

But times are tough for the 42-year-old West Brighton man. Baseball
season is over at CitiField, where Anthony works summers as a porter
during Mets games. Same with seasonal carpentry work.

To make ends meet, Anthony delivers the Advance to some friendly
subscribers along his route who set aside plastic bottles for him to
pick up so he can cash in
for a little extra.

"If I hold them for a week," Anthony says of the recyclables he collects, "I can make $20, $30."

Twenty bucks won't buy you 10 bucks these days, not even the radio
knobs on a car. Anthony had to borrow his brother Michael's car on Oct. 8
to deliver papers.

"I get there at 8 in the morning to start," Anthony says, detailing a
paper route that stretches from Taylor Street to Trinity, among others.

"When I got to Alaska Street, people had given me permission to go in the front yard and take the plastic bottles."

Apparently Sanitation Enforcement Agent Robert Barrows thought he saw a deep-pocketed recycling
tycoon stashing a bag of plastic bottles in a 1997 Hyundai when he
spotted Anthony on Alaska Street at about 8:30 that Friday morning.

Barrows approached Anthony and told him to "turn off the car and give me the keys."

Barrows handed over a citation that called for Anthony to appear in front of the city's Environmental Control Board.

"...I did observe [Anthony McCorkle] unlawfully remove recyclable
glass, metal, plastic, placed out for collection ... and place into a
1997 white Hyundai ... without written authorization from the property
owner," Barrows wrote in the ticket.

Never mind Anthony's written petition with 36 signatures of people
who are more than happy to help him out by giving him their plastic
bottles to cash in for a few measly dollars.

When Anthony saw the fine he'd pay if he's convicted of removing
residential recyclables and placing them into a vehicle, he almost
choked on his empty wallet.

A maximum $2,000.

Since the car is registered to Anthony's brother, Michael McCorkle
would also have to pay $2,000, along with the $120 it will cost to get
the car back from the impound.

"They took my car for something I didn't do," Michael, 37, says.

Sanitation couldn't care less. Two grand is two-grand. Four grand is twice as grand.

"It's unlawful for any person, except for DSNY, to remove or
transport by motor vehicle any recyclable materials placed out at
curbside, within the stoop line, or in front of the premise for
collection or removal by DSNY," says DSNY spokesman Matthew Lipani.

"The Department does not issue violations to individuals who remove
curbside recyclables via shopping cart or on foot," Lipani maintains.

In other words, if you're down and out and raiding front yards for
plastic bottles and cans with a shopping cart, you're OK in Sanitation's
book.

But when you're trying to do an honest day's work collecting bottles
and cans with the property owners' permission and your brother's
borrowed car, it'll cost you and your brother $2,000 each, and another
$120 to get the car back because Sanitation is under the delusion that
you can afford it.